Power struggles are stupid

The liberal daily The Independent believes the Socialists' power struggles are just plain stupid: "No contest between the Left and Right has been fought with more invective and more dirty tricks than this riveting contest between the Centre-Left and the Centre-Left. The poisonous hatred between the two camps was apparent long before the vote of Socialist party members on Friday night split almost exactly 50-50. The problem is not the narrowness of Friday's vote, nor the evidence of voting irregularities. Such practises have long plagued France's alternative 'party of government'. ... The real problem is that personal relations between the camps have grown so venomous that a de facto schism seems inevitable. A formal split into two parties of the centre-left is unlikely in the short term. It is no longer inconceivable. ... It used to be said that France had the 'stupidest Right in the world'. In that tradition, at least, France has moved decisively to the Left."

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